Klocko Amy L, Goddard Amanda L, Jacobson Jeremy R, Magnuson Anna C, Strauss Steven H
Department of Biology, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs, CO 80918, USA.
Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA.
Plants (Basel). 2021 Aug 3;10(8):1594. doi: 10.3390/plants10081594.
The central floral development gene (, whose mutation leads to striking changes in flowering and often sterility, is commonly expressed in non-floral structures; however, its role in vegetative development is poorly understood. Sterility associated with suppression of expression is an attractive means for mitigating gene flow by both seeds and pollen in vegetatively propagated forest trees, but the consequences of its suppression for tree form and wood production are unclear. To study the vegetative effects of RNAi suppression of , we created a randomized, multiple-year field study with 30-40 trees (ramets) in each of two sterile gene insertion events, three transgenic control events, and a wild-type control population. We found that floral knock-down phenotypes were stable across years and propagation cycles, but that several leaf morphology and productivity traits were statistically and often substantially different in sterile vs. normal flowering RNAi- trees. Though trees with suppressed expression looked visibly normal, they appear to have reduced growth and altered leaf traits. appears to have a significant role in vegetative meristem development, and evaluation of vegetative impacts from suppression would be prudent prior to large-scale use for genetic containment.
核心花发育基因（，其突变会导致开花出现显著变化且常导致不育，通常在非花结构中表达；然而，其在营养生长发育中的作用却知之甚少。与抑制表达相关的不育是减少无性繁殖林木中种子和花粉基因流动的一种有吸引力的手段，但其抑制对树形和木材产量的影响尚不清楚。为了研究RNAi抑制的营养效应，我们进行了一项随机的多年田间研究，在两个不育基因插入事件、三个转基因对照事件以及一个野生型对照群体中，每个群体有30 - 40棵树（分株）。我们发现花敲除表型在多年和繁殖周期中是稳定的，但在不育与正常开花的RNAi - 树中，几个叶片形态和生产力性状在统计学上存在差异，且往往差异很大。尽管抑制表达的树外观明显正常，但它们似乎生长减缓且叶片性状发生了改变。似乎在营养分生组织发育中具有重要作用，在大规模用于基因控制之前，谨慎评估抑制的营养影响是明智的。
